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Benjamin H. Freedman

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Benjamin H. Freedman
Freedman in 1959
Born
Benjamin Harrison Freedman

(1890-10-04)October 4, 1890
New York City, New York, U.S
DiedMay 1984 (aged 93)
Garden City, New York, U.S
OccupationsBusinessman, principal owner of the Woodbury Soap Company
Known forAnti-Zionism
SpouseRose Schoendorf

Benjamin Harrison Freedman (October 4, 1890 – May 1984) was an American businessman, Holocaust denier, and vocal anti-Zionist. Born in a Jewish family, he converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism. Outside of political activism, Freedman was a partner in a dermatological institute and investor for small businesses.

Early life and career

Benjamin Harrison Freedman was born October 4, 1890, in New York City.[1][2] Born in a Jewish family, he later converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism.[3]

From 1925 to 1937, Freedman was a partner with Samuel D. Leidesdorf in the John H. Woodbury Laboratories, a dermatological institute[4] and a derivative company of the old Woodbury Soap Company.[5] Benjamin H Freedman was listed on the letterhead of the Institute for Arab American Affairs and around 1946, along with his wife, listed as "R M Schoendorf" (Rose M. Schoendorf Freedman), "sponsored a series of advertisements under the imprint of 'The League for Peace with Justice in Palestine'".[6] In 1946, he sued the American Jewish Committee for libel and the case was thrown out in less than a month.[7][8]

Activities

Benjamin H. Freedman (third from left) at the age of 82, receiving the Service award from Jozef Mlot-Mroz (fourth from right) of the Anti-Communist Federation of Polish Freedom Fighters in Salem, Massachusetts, 1972. Freedman's wife, Rose Schoendorf, depicted at the far left

Freemdan was a Holocaust denier,[9][10][11] and vocal anti-Zionist.[3][12] He was a financial backer of the author Conde McGinley, publisher of the antisemitic periodical Common Sense.[13][14][15][16] In the 1955 libel trial by Rabbi Joachim Prinz against McGinley, Freedman testified that "he [Freedman] had given Mr. McGinley financial support of 'more than $10,000 but less than $100,000'".[17] Prinz had sued McGinley for calling him a "red rabbi."

Freedman opposed the nomination of Anna M. Rosenberg to be United States Assistant Secretary of Defense in 1950.[5] An article in the ADL Bulletin titled The Plot Against Ann Rosenberg attributed the attacks on Rosenberg's loyalty to "professional anti-Semites and lunatic nationalists", including the "Jew-baiting cabal of John Rankin, Benjamin Freedman, and Gerald Smith".[11]

Freedman, an apostate Jew, was well known to the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee as an active supporter of the Arab cause in the Middle East. (fn 33) In the course of his erratic and often contradictory testimony before the Senate committee, Freedman revealed the roles played by anti-Semitic agitators and right-wing anticommunists — including Gerald L. K. Smith, Conde McGinley, the "Reverend" Wesley Swift, Congressman John Rankin, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and J. B. Matthews — in the campaign against the Rosenberg appointment. (fn 34)[11]

He is mentioned in a report by the House Un-American Activities Committee.[1]

Death

Freedman was politically active until the mid-1970s when he was well over 85 years old.[2][18] Freedman died in May 1984, in Garden City, New York, aged 93.[2]

Works

  • League for Peace With Justice in Palestine. Freedman published his own broadsheets under the aegis of the League for Peace With Justice in Palestine, which he founded in 1946.[19]
  • "Palestine," Destiny: The Magazine of National Life (Jan. 1948): 26–28 (originally appeared in the National Economic Council's Letter, no. 177, Oct. 15, 1947). Haverhill, Mass.
  • Facts are Facts, Noontide Press (Softcover), ISBN 0-317-53273-1. A pamphlet purporting to be the text of a 1954 letter from Freedman to David Goldstein, proponent of the idea that Christianity fulfilled Judaism. The text expounds the notion that most people now identified as Jews are descendants of Khazars, a Turkic people of Central Asia who converted to Judaism. Freedman does not refer to Jews, but to "so-called or 'self-styled Jews'".
  • Why Congress is Crooked or Crazy or Both, Founder, 1946, League for Peace with Justice in Palestine (New York, 1975)

Notes

  1. ^ a b Preliminary Report on Neo-Fascist and Hate Groups (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: Committee on Un-American Activities. December 17, 1954. pp. 17–18. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2017. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  2. ^ a b c "Social Security Death Index" (Database). Social Security Administration. born Oct 4 1890, died May 1984 Benjamin Freeman [sic] Garden City, NY
  3. ^ a b "Anti-Zionist Tells of Dinner in Capital". The New York Times. May 8, 1948. p. 4. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  4. ^ Bridges, Robert; Dashiell, Alfred; Logan, Harlan (1891). Scribner's Magazine. Charles Scribner's Sons.
  5. ^ a b "Testimony of Benjamin H. Freedman, New York City". Nomination of Anna M. Rosenberg to be Assistant Secretary of Defense. United States Senate Committee on Armed Services. 1950. pp. 145–201 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Cairo to Damascus by John Roy Carlson. Knopf 1951 (PDF 4.5M)
  7. ^ "Ready to Meet Suit, Jewish Group Says". The New York Times. July 8, 1946. p. 3. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  8. ^ "Anti-Nazi Leader Cleared of Libel; Magistrate Rejects Charges of H. M. Richardson Against the Rev. Dr. H. A. Atkinson". The New York Times. May 27, 1948. p. 23 (Books). ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  9. ^ Identity Politics in the Age of Genocide: The Holocaust and Historical representation, David B. MacDonald, page 56
  10. ^ Freedman, Benjamin H. (May 1, 1959). "Six Million Jew Hoax". Common Sense.
  11. ^ a b c Svonkin, Stuart (1997). Jews Against Prejudice: American Jews and the Fight for Civil Liberties. Columbia University Press. p. 120. ISBN 0231106386.
  12. ^ "Anti-Zionist Lists Policy 'Dictators'; Lehman, Baruch and Warburg Named as Among Those Who Influence U.S. on Palestine". The New York Times. May 5, 1948. p. 35. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  13. ^ E. Atkins, Stephen (2009). Holocaust Denial as an International Movement. ABC-CLIO. pp. 154–. ISBN 978-0-313-34538-8.
  14. ^ Chip Berlet; Matthew Nemiroff Lyons (2000). Right-wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. Guilford Press. pp. 172–. ISBN 978-1-57230-562-5.
  15. ^ Philip Jenkins (January 1997). Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925-1950. Univ of North Carolina Press. pp. 225–. ISBN 978-0-8078-2316-3.
  16. ^ Clive Webb (March 15, 2011). Fight Against Fear: Southern Jews and Black Civil Rights. University of Georgia Press. pp. 52–. ISBN 978-0-8203-4009-8.
  17. ^ "Jury Gives Rabbi $30,000 in Libel; Dr. Prinz Wins Damages in His Suit Against Editor Who Called Him Red". The New York Times. April 1, 1955. p. 9. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 19, 2026.
  18. ^ New York Passenger Lists[permanent dead link], online at www.ancestry.com : Arriving on the Queen of Bermuda, 24 Feb 1936, from Hamilton, Bermuda, Sheet 126 "Benjamin Freedman 46 born 1890 New York City, residence 2138 Edwin Ave, West Hill, NY". Next entry is "Rose Margaret Freedman 30 born 1905 New York City, residence 2138 Edwin Ave, West Hill, NY
  19. ^ Yearbook of the United Nations 1946/7[permanent dead link]

Further reading

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